“Breath in, exhale and squeeze the trigger, darlin’.”
She breathed in, exhaled and squeezed. She wasn’t ready for either the deafening sound or the recoil the gun made when it went off. Luckily, Blood was there, still at her back, steadying her. When she saw that the bottle was still there, her shoulders slumped.
“I missed.”
“First time you’ve ever held a gun. Did you think you’d be Annie Oakley with the first shot?”
“I hate to fail. In anything.”
“Competitive bitch, are you?”
“I suppose.”
“Good. That I can work with. You’re high and to the right. Try again.”
She aimed at the target, breathed in, exhaled and fired.
Nothing.
“Again.”
She repeated her steps.
And missed.
“Again.”
She missed again.
“Focus, babe, or we’ll be here all day if we have to, ‘til you hit the damn thing.”
He knew just what buttons to push to make her determined to make the shot. She steadied her arm, breathed in, exhaled and squeezed the trigger.
This time the bottle exploded.
Blood grabbed the gun from her hand as she swung around, excitedly.
“I hit it!”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She jumped up and down.
“Good job. Now shoot the shit out of those cans like they’re Ashley.”
“How do you know about Ashley?”
“Lucky guess.”
He handed the gun back to her. She took aim and fired.
Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam.
When she was empty, he took the gun from her as she turned to him.
“Thank you. That felt so good.”
“You’re welcome. So, what’d Ashley do this time?”